Let us be more independent
Posted on February 1st, 2015
Nalin de Silva
The Presidential elections held on 8th January 2015 was on nidahasa of the country more than anything else. I prefer the word nidahasa to other concepts such as sovereignty, independence etc., and I associate the nidahasa with eksesath rajya a form of unitary state. Thus it was nidahasa and eksesath rajya that decided on the eighth and the battle lines had been drawn with people who preferred nidhasa on one side and the people who were prepared to be instructed either directly or indirectly on the other side.
The opposition cry, initiated by Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera on so called good governance, was only a camouflage to hide the real problem from the people. There has been no government in Sri Lanka that can be said to be proud of good governance. All governments have had skeletons in their cupboards (cabinets in whatever sense one can think of) since independence in a limited sense in 1948, and even in the whole world only one or two governments that could have been proud of good governance in the history. There would have been few kings who followed dasha raja dharma” but hardly any so called elected ruler under western democracy who presided over good governance”.
The way that Ven. Maduluwawe Sobhitha Thera has been marginalized bringing forth Ven. Athureliye Ratana Thera speaks volumes for good governance”. The vested interests through their organizations, which are called NGOs , research institutes, fora of retired and working academics in the universities and other intellectuals”, etc., promoted good governance” speaking of corruption, terror, commissions of the Rajapakse regime” as if nothing of that sort had happened previously. All these have increased over the years from government to government commencing with the 1947 government of Unge Nedeyange Pakshaya (the UNP or the party of their relatives) and there is no guarantee that the Rice, Sand Tree Quarry Mafias will not extend beyond Polonnanuruwa.
I remember very well how Vice Chancellors were appointed during the time of JR Jayawardhne whose government that practiced ‘good governance” was responsible for the Universities Act No 16 of 1978. There was a time when the same person held the positions of Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Education and Chairman of University Grants Commission in the name of good governance”. This person refused to talk with the FUTA and those of us who held posts in that Federation had a difficult time in getting an interview with him. I know these facts as I was the secretary of FUTA at that time. Finally only after quoting the Trade Union Act and taking steps to file a court case FUTA was granted a meeting with this servant of the government that practiced good governance.
I do not want to go into the history of the early days of FUTA under the UNP governments and the way the governments treated the agitations of students against the White Paper on education introduced by Ranil Wickremesinghe, the so called Junior Universities of Premadasa, the North Colombo Medical School. I was either the Secretary or President of FUTA during these troubled periods and I remember once FUTA executive committee had to have a meeting on the Kumaratunga Munidasa Mawatha when FUTA was not allowed to have its meetings in the premises of the University of Colombo. Perhaps the JVP and some leaders of JHU that has now joined hands with the UNP, Chandrika Kumaratunga, and others in the name of good governance will remember Thirimawithana and others who died in the name of free education against malpractices (sorry good governance policies) of the University of Colombo that wanted to award its degree to the students of NCMC who did not satisfy the admission requirements as laid down by the UGC.
The parties that want to follow instructions by the west led by England have now ganged up against the nidahasa and eksesath rajya. Though the TNA initially had not issued a statement on whom they supported at the elections until last minutes it was clear that the Sumanthiran faction had taken a decision to support the main candidate who opposes Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential Elections. In any event the name of the game was removal of Mahinda Rajapaksa who has shown that he can stand up to pressure from England led west and removed an obstacle on our way to nidahasa, by hook or crook. When Mahinda Rajapaksa gave political leadership and Gotabhaya Rajapaksa guided the armed forces to defeat the LTTE an agent of west against Sinhala people and the country, we gained some nidahasa. The next step in the process of achieving Nidahasa is the defeat of Tamil racism that is operated from London.
The opposition parties have ganged up to prevent that happening and to set the clock back. The SLMC would not have supported the opposition block if the latter did not agree to their demand of a Muslim administrative district from Kalmunai to Akkarapattu. The parties in the opposition are for the thirteenth amendment plus, giving police and land powers to the provincial councils, combining the Northern and Eastern Provinces to form one administrative unit and in general for giving more powers to the provincial councils so that the combined Northern and Eastern Provinces could finally work towards a federation and finally for separation.
Some nationalists with good intentions believed that the leaders of the JHU would prevent such things happening. Now anybody such as me who knows the history of these leaders would have any such dreams. I know the history of them who they changed from being JVP activists to nationalists who worked with Chinthana Parshadaya and then formed Janatha Mithuro and a plethora of organisations later. When they formed Janatha Mithuro they claimed that the nation cannot be marketed and joined hands with Mangala Samarweera to form Ratavesi Peramuna that stood for federalism. They worked for Mangala Samarawera at the 1994 elections and then switched over to nationalism after bombs were blasted by killing school children. They formed the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT) and they were supported by some bell bottomed Viharamaha Devis. Then they formed Sihala Urumaya, Jathika Hela Urumaya around the Bana of Ven. Soma Thera and how they ditched SL Gunasekera and others is now part of history. The Bhikkus were made to contest elections but finally Champika Ranawaka ended up as a minister. I do not want to go into further details but today one finds these leaders with Chandrka Kumaratunga and Mangala Samaraweera as in 1994.
These leaders have vacillated between pseudo nationalism and federalism in their history and to add they had a Gota bhaya (Gota phobia) as well. They claim that they could not get things done for the Sinhala nation from Mahinda Rajapaksa implying that they do not have the strength to do so. If they do not have a mass base to get Mahinda Rajapaksa to agree to their policies how could one expect them to get things done from a defacto Chandrika Ranil government backed by the west led by England. All these are day dreams and those who wanted a so called change have to be warned that they would not be able to change the so called change for fifty years as it is the western countries led by England that would be in the driving seat.
I am not talking of so called conspiracy but of colonialism that has been practiced by England over two hundred years (it is two hundred years after 1815 the year of Sinhala English pact) and how they have used Tamil racism for more than 180 years of the two hundred years to weaken if not destroy the Sinhala culture and the people. We gained some nidahasa by standing up to the west in 2009 defeating the LTTE and 2015 should have been the year in which we would have taken a further steps to gain more nidahasa by defeating the opposition candidate who is backed by the agents of England led west.
(This articles is based on an article written before the elections which was not published by the Island. You may decide for yourself the policy of the Island editor. There is no so called freedom of expression in the newsparers in Sri Lanka)
February 1st, 2015 at 5:50 am
Namaste: Sinhalese have been fighting among themselves since 1951 when India directly got involved in island politics by getting hold of Solomon West Ridgeway Bandaranayake. Look at the people who are complaining about corruption and who are said to be corrupt. All are Sinhalese and I don’t see any corrupt Indians named by Indians or non Indian of the island. There is something sinister. Nalin, British Empire is in fact was a British-Indian Empire until Hitler moved in. After that and still it is the Indian Empire. Look at the budget all Indian stuff is going to be cheap and our diet will end up South Indian. Jai Hind
February 1st, 2015 at 5:58 am
“Though the TNA initially had not issued a statement on whom they supported at the elections until last minutes it was clear that the Sumanthiran faction had taken a decision to support the main candidate who opposes Mahinda Rajapakse at the Presidential Elections”. Nalin; ll Tamils knew and was instructed long before the declaration of the poll what to do the same as they did in 200 and 2010. This time through websites you could enter only with permission and a password and secret apps and SMS. In 1983 it was Short Waves and still it is radio waves. Indian are in the forefront of this technology thanks to Norway.
February 1st, 2015 at 9:54 am
Let us be more independent – the only way to achieve this in the modern world is establishing a technology base and capabilities in the country i.e Knowledge based economy. Which as Dr. Silva may agreed with me has not happened despite our having 80 years of higher education which most of us including Dr. Silva are beneficiaries. It is a shame how the educated (especially medical, engineering and management) have failed to pay back for the enormous investment the people (especially the blue collars workers on whose productivity we still depend) made on them. Worse they work the corrupt system for their own selfish gains by robbing the very same people who afforded their higher education at the same time greatly compromising their professionalism. Just like the nationalistic cause Dr. Silva is advancing I request him to initiate a drive to establish a knowledge based economy by making both the professionals and the government aware of the importance of this. a good place to start this is the knowledge and capabilities acquired during the conduct of war for more than 30 years. It should be the technology transfer (not fundamental research where people are only interested in publish papers) that should be pursued and judiciously select the technologies suitable for the country (like East Asian countries did in 1950s, while our administrators were impressing each other by communicating in perfect English). Without local technology capabilities there is no true independence especially when the educated need all the gadgets the modern science makes.
February 1st, 2015 at 10:20 am
I should add MR should have initiated this after the victory over terrorism by adopting the policies of 1970-77 government but more on a realistic basis. Unfortunately he went for JR’s policy of consuming luxuries on borrowed money and initiating mega projects (with lot of corruption) which do not generate dollar income unless knowledge based companies set up shop. And unless this happened it will be housemaids and other blue collar workers (who will never use these highways) are the ones will bear the brunt of paying these dollar loans back. The government assisted by the professional organizations should make plans to use the infrastructure that has been developed to set up or invite foreign companies so that income (as well as local knowledge base) is generated.
February 1st, 2015 at 12:58 pm
Sena,
MR and BR NEVER understood that. They thought SELLING WAR VICTORY will win them elections FOREVER.
What use are MATTALA, SOUTHERN EXPRESSWAY, HAMBANTOTA PORT, SURIYAWEWA CRICKET GROUND, etc. for the COMMON MAN (the SLFP voter)!
People like NALIN should have pointed out these to MR-BR in 2010.
Yes it is housemaids and blue collar workers who will pay for the EXTRAVAGANZA. And suffer MOST in doing so. No one cares because they DON’T VOTE.
February 1st, 2015 at 1:45 pm
There is a remarkable similarity in Nalin’s essay and the one by Susantha (on SL Gunasekera) with regard to thier nahen adiima (two cry babies).
Now that the election game is over, who can say that the removal of MahindaR is not a good thing for the country? What Nalin and Susantha should do is to promote the unity between the Sinhala Buddhists in UNP and SLFP.
February 1st, 2015 at 2:42 pm
Prof Nalin De Silva:
In the west, The chief editor of a newspaper always supports the christian religion, the govt hegemony over others and their democracy is to make them the strongest and the “BEST”. In sri Lanka, People, the editor is part of that philosophy, talk about equality, democracy… and forget about themselves. Besides, in Sri lanka it is racist and extremist to talk about Sinhala people, or sinhala-buddhists on the other hand, every thing that the muslim or the tamil writer writes is fair and they only talk about their rights. So, that is how your article is not needed there. Another example is for Tamilnet publishing, there is freedom of expression in Sri lanka, and if you talk, at least as a hypocrite, about Sinhala-buddhists that is racism and extremism.
I think you don’t state the facts as the country would want you to.
Most of the article, you talk about how corrupt the govts were and how struggling the FUTA was. I think, FUTA, BASL and many more are highly political, that is why they are get beaten, shot and killed. Sri lanka is excessively politicized. So these organizations are. FUTA is more interested in them than teaching the students. I think when the BASL tried to get rid of SC and when the FUTA tried to get rid of the UGC chair person they became one political force against another powerful politician who appointed all these people.
Any way, you talk about corruption and you forget that Mahinda Rajapakse and his family, relatives, henchmen were the most corrupt gang in the Sri lankan history. Mahinda Rajapakse did nothing to Sinhala people or to buddhism except he destroyed the Sinhala society with Dusseela, aviddaya, or corruptions, thuggery, and established a highly degraded, immoral and undisciplined society. He strengthened all those characters.
You should have asked for not the MR-govt or not the Ranil wickramasinghe govt which is another extension of the same corrupt politicians, but a new group.
With respect to the western influence, China did not help us by going out of the way. China was doing business, using us and was quiet. I don’t think Hindia will ever help us. They are only there to see what they can get from us.
On the other hand, Mahinda Rajapakse spent hundreds of Millions to reach to the west without any success. Mangala Samaraweera and Ranil will bend to them. thatis all they know. How do we have a middle way with them ? Are we capable of doing that ?
I think reach to Puntin and make Sri lanka the Cuba in the cold war time.